Biogenealogy

HEALTH / SELF-HELP "Biogenealogy: Decoding the Psychic Roots of Illness raises fascinating questions for all physicians and patients to consider--to what extent are psychological, traumatic, and survival experiences of our ancestors passed to us through our DNA and to what extent must we consider transgenerational transmission of disease in our search for healing. Obissier presents compelling examples to support his ideas and raises questions that future research and practice must answer." --Lewis Mehl-Madrona, M.D., Ph.D., author of Coyote Medicine and Coyote Healing Most people believe there is link between our emotional/psychic health and the health of our physical body, yet why is it that some people are more prone to illness than others? In Biogenealogy: Decoding the Psychic Roots of Illness Patrick Obissier contends that not only does emotional stress lies at the origin of every illness, but that it is also possible to trace the root cause of an illness to our ancestors--their unresolved psychic distress can become part of the cellular memory we inherit. Until the issue has been successfully settled, it will continue to trigger illness in the generations that follow. Illness is actually the body's way of protecting those who experience severe emotional shock or excessive amounts of distress. Illness should therefore be considered an ally, rather than an adversary. Understanding illness in this way directs us to look for the underlying causative psychic conflict in order to eliminate the disease, rather than merely dealing with its overt physical symptoms. For example, diabetes, which creates excess sugar in the bloodstream, can be triggered by the stress caused by feelings of powerlessness. To compensate for this sense of powerlessness, the body manufactures more and more sugar to fuel the muscles. To halt this runaway sugar production, the psychic distress that caused it must be identified and resolved or it will be passed on to the next generation. When we discover the solutions that create harmony in the body and in our life, the body will no longer have to manufacture illness to restore a sense of balance, and illness will no longer be something that we must endure, or part of the bequest that we leave our descendants. PATRICK OBISSIER is a therapist who specializes in the biodecoding of illness. Since the 1970s he has been studying numerous holistic therapies to address the role disease plays in humans, society, and the environment and the psycho-cerebro-physical effects that manifest in the human body. He lives in the south of France.